The purpose of this study is to determine alternative ways of controlling costs that are more reliable, updated and useful than traditional budgeting. To identify the advantages and disadvantages of the budgeting process. To determine whether a South African company combines different planning methods to suit its specific planning needs. To determine how key performance drivers for planning purposes are chosen in the event that the company makes use of key performance drivers. Finally, to determine the relevance of traditional budgeting when combined with alternative planning methods for a South African company. This study should contribute greatly to how unique the budgeting process has become in the modern economy. Unlike previous studies that only focussed on abandoning budgets completely or on alternative methods, this study will investigate the use of the traditional budget in conjunction with alternative planning and the extent of alternative planning methods being used. As far as it could be determined, this will be the first study of the implementation of alternative budgeting in conjunction with the traditional budget in a South African context. The study will also make a unique contribution by investigating new combinations of planning techniques used by a South African company. For this mixed-method study, one single case was selected for an in-depth analysis of the budgeting process. Data was collected by means of questionnaires that were given to all participants of the budgeting process and a once off face-to-face in-depth interview with the CFO of the company. It was concluded that the budgeting process is unique for this South African company. It includes various alternative planning methods used in conjunction with the annual budgeting process. Disadvantages and advantages of the budgeting process were discussed as found form previous research and from the current study. Alternative methods of planning used by the company in conjunction to the traditional budget were identified and discussed. Further research in a South African context would prove very interesting on the unique budgeting processes implemented by South African companies today. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Financial Management / unrestricted

In recent decades, the traditional budget has come under heavy criticism with researchers and practitioners calling it a "relic of the past" as it hinders the ability of organizations to respond to and keep up with changing market conditions. As a result, alternative approaches to budgeting have been developed:beyond budgeting, activity-based budgeting and rolling forecasting. However, at the same time, traditional budgeting continues to be widely used. Therefore, the aim of the study is to understand and assess the reasons for the persistence of traditional budgeting, as well as to explore the ways traditional budgeting can be improved in repsonse to the criticism leveled at it. To achieve the aim, the study was carried out in the form of a case study. The case chosen was Värmlandstrafik, an organization responsible for organizing public transport in Värmland, Sweden. Research data was collected through interviews with the case study`s employees. A total of 10 interviews were conducted from different departments including Finance, Bus, Trail, Service, and IT. The results indicated that traditinoal budgeting is far from dead and remains valuable tool mainly for its planning, control, and performance management functions. Another finding was that traditional budgeting criticism can be addressed by incorporating already existing management tools (e.g. forecasting) rather than taking an "either-or" approach to the alternatives and budgeting. However, the study´s findings also suggest that budgeting approaches are context-specific, making it difficult to draw generalizable conclusions about their strengths and weaknesses.

Within the research field of management controlling systems, a contrasting debate has evolved about budgeting. The market environment has become more dynamic where traditional budgeting, better budgeting and beyond budgeting have received significant observation to establish what alternative that is mostly suitable for the current market situation. With rapid changes in the market environment, a traditional budget can quickly become obsolete. To help ground research in practice, we examine how the budgeting process is characterized from a short-term operational and long-term strategic perspective in modern organizations. Furthermore, we shed light on what functions the budget and/or its other management controlling system(s) fulfills. As researchers and practitioners claim that traditional budgets are among others static, inflexible and time-consuming, we investigate to what extent these corresponds to the views of the CFOs and Bank Directors interviewed for this study. To fulfill our purpose, we conducted a multiple-case study. The data is obtained through a qualitative strategy with elements of a quantitative. Our empirical data is primarily collected through interviews. We complemented with a questionnaire where the interviewees provide their standpoints on the criticism against traditional budgeting. The analysis is carried out with a qualitative approach. The result from this thesis illuminates that traditional, better and beyond budgeting is present in the studied organizations. Nevertheless, the study concludes that the positive aspects of a traditional budget outweighs its downsides despite criticism and market environmental factors.

The budgeting debate concerns that traditional budgets have become dysfunctional in today’s volatile business environment. Thus, it can seem logical that organisations would implement alternatives, and beyond budgeting has become popular. Nevertheless, knowledge of beyond budgeting’s practical implications is limited, and future research needs to study organisations that have implemented beyond budgeting. This study, therefore, investigates beyond budgeting in practice through a qualitative multiple case study with eight semi-structured interviews, whose respondents come from four retail organisations. The study intends to research reasons for choosing beyond budgeting, how the beyond budgeting solution is designed and what consequences beyond budgeting implies. The study finds that organisations choose to implement beyond budgeting for several reasons, some similar, such as budgets being time-consuming and aiming for higher adaptability, and some more organisation specific. The study also finds that the beyond budgeting solutions differ, for example, the companies’ management processes are designed differently. However, no organisation intentionally implemented all beyond budgeting principles, and all have a high focus on the management processes. Further, the study finds that the company's consequences implies some similarities and differences. For example, higher adaptability was a consistent outcome. Moreover, the study shows that all companies experienced consequences that were unanticipated. Lastly, the study implies that an organisation’s contingencies affects reasons, beyond budgeting solution and outcomes as beyond budgeting should be adjusted to its situation.

A more complex and turbulent world market puts pressure on flexibility and the ability to adjust its business to the market changes. The rapid and unpredictable change is hade to analyze and forecast which demands more short-term forecasting. The issue for this dissertation is based upon the demand of more flexible ways of doing business in the bank sector in Sweden, which is a turbulent and unpredictable market. Handelsbanken is a company that uses the so called Beyond budgeting concept and the dissertation is about this company’s ability to solve the economic governance without the traditional budgeting process. The purpose of the study is to compare this organisation with another bank, Swedbank, who also operates on the Swedish market. The study aims to point at differences and similarities between the bank with the Beyond budgeting concept and the other who still is holding on to the traditional budgeting process. Important concepts within the study are; rolling forecasts, KPI and benchmarking. The data was gathered through telephone interviews and secondary data. The authors have been in contact with one regional control in each of the banks to get an understanding about the economic governance in the banks. The findings are that both of the banks are widely decentralised even though Swedbank still holds on to the fact that the traditional budgeting process is important for the company. Both of the companies are using a similar company structure, where local decision power is emphasised and the internal competition is crucial to be able to create motivated employees to be competitive on the market. The banks are also both very interested in not just the financial results but the non-financial, such as customers. / I en allt mer komplicerad och turbulent värld, ställs nya krav på företags flexibilitet och förmåga att ändra sig efter marknaden. Eftersom marknaden ändrar sig väldigt snabbt och ofta, är det svårt att förutse vad som kommer hända i framtiden, och därför behövs mer kortsiktiga framtidsprognoser. Uppsatsens problemformulering grundar sig i kravet på allt mer flexibla styrinstrument i denna globaliserade värld. Handelsbanken är ett företag som använder sig av så kallad budgetlös styrning och uppsatsens problematisering berör bankens sätt att lösa den ekonomiska styrningen med avsaknad av budget. Syftet med studien är att jämföra Handelsbankens ekonomistyrning med Swedbanks, en bank som fortfarande använder sig av traditionell budgetering. I studien beskrivs skillnaderna mellan en bank som har budgetlös styrning och en som är mer budgetstyrd, vad som behövs för att skapa en fungerande budgetlös styrning och vilka fördelar respektive nackdelar det finns med dessa styrningar. Viktiga begrepp inom budgetlös styrning är rullande prognoser, nyckeltal och benchmarking. Insamling av data har skett genom telefonintervjuer och insamling av sekundär data. Man har vart i kontakt med en controller på regionnivå i respektive bank för att få en förståelse för hur det ekonomiska arbetet fungerar i bankerna. Vad som är framgår i studien är att båda företagen är decentraliserade men Swedbank använder en traditionell budget för hela företag dock främst fokuserad till kostnadssidan. Båda företagen har liknande struktur, med en decentraliserad organisation och där de lokala kontoren har stor beslutskraft dessutom använder båda bankerna intern konkurrens för att motivera sina anställda och för att kunna övervaka resultatet. De förlitar sig inte bara på finansiella resultat utan de icke-finansiella resultaten har en väldigt viktigt roll i båda företagen.

This study is based on a combination of existing theoretical knowledge and recently conducted empirical research. The analysis of knowledge that has come from the academic world has resulted in an extensive review of budgeting. The review starts at the inception of budgets in the nineteenth century, where it was just a tool to manage cost and cash flows. The study follows the trajectory of the evolution of budgeting from Traditional Budgeting practices that lasted for decades to, what is known today as, Better Budgeting. The evolution of budgeting has been driven by the desire of organisations to mitigate business challenges which result from the economic volatilities of the day as well as to remain competitive. This desire to mitigate business challenges remains relevant today and demands that organisations be equipped with best practice management tools, systems and business processes. In order to manage organisations effectively and efficiently, Management Accounting as a discipline is in a state of constant development. Over the years, a number of new innovations have been introduced in the field of Management Accounting. These include (but are not limited to) concepts such as Activity Based Costing (ABC), Activity Based Management (ABM), Activity Based Budgeting (ABB), Target Costing, Strategic Cost Management and Economic Value Added (Budgeting)(EVA™), Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB), Rolling Budgets and Forecasting (RBF), Balanced-Score Card (BSC) and Beyond Budgeting. These innovations aim to provide business managers with practical value adding solutions for a better understanding of the organisation’s product or service costing and planning strategies. The focus of this study is on innovations relating to the planning strategies of the organisation. Innovations that relate to planning include: Activity Based Budgeting, Zero Based Budgeting and Rolling Budgeting and Forecasting. The budget evolution is not short of academic value; researchers have conducted empirical surveys and have provided a theoretical perspective on the subject matter with fruitful findings. There appears to be a consensus regarding a total overhaul of Traditional Budgeting with the clear intention to move towards Better Budgeting. In the midst of this continued research work, there has been an emergence of a radical view about budgeting. This radical view concerns pursuing an agenda that suggests that organisations must stop preparing budgets. The gist of this radical development can be summed up as the limitations presented by budgeting in organisations. This recent concept has been coined as Beyond Budgeting. To remain globally competitive, South African organisations must keep abreast with the latest developments in management practices. This study therefore provides a good platform for South African organisations to obtain knowledge in what other countries are already doing around the subject of budgeting. The study has a two-pronged problem statement. Firstly, do organisations still budget? Secondly, what do organisations feel is the future for budgeting? Are they keeping with Traditional Budgeting, moving towards Better Budgeting or rather going further and looking Beyond Budgeting? The South African business community is no exception to this global budget debate about Traditional Budgeting, Better Budgeting and Beyond Budgeting. To gather evidence, the study made use of an online survey questionnaire that is attached as Appendix 2. An email invite containing an Internet hyperlink was sent to respondents. Respondents were expected to click on the hyperlink to gain access the pre-designed online survey questionnaire. Upon the analysis of the results, it was concluded that the South African business community still relies on budgeting, with 90% of the respondents saying that budgeting is indispensable, as their organisations will not manage without budgeting. Furthermore, there was a clear-cut move from Traditional Budgeting towards Better Budgeting. The study also concluded that the move towards Better Budgeting is supported by the inability of Traditional Budgeting to keep up with the rapid changes in macro and micro-economic factors. Also interesting to note is the revelation that 0% of the respondents indicated that they had adopted and implemented Beyond Budgeting. This resistance by the South African business community to the adoption of Beyond Budgeting and the resulting slower pace of this new practice's implementation is actually similar to the pace at which global organisations have received this radical budgeting practice. / Dissertation (MCom) University of Pretoria, 2012 / am2013 / Financial Management / unrestricted

Inledning Traditionell årlig budgetering har länge varit ett välanvänt och pålitligt styrmedel inom verksamhetsstyrning. Under de senaste fem åren har marknadsklimatet förändrats med ökade omvärldsrelaterade osäkerhetsfaktorer som konsekvens av krig och inflation. Förändringar gällande förutsättningarna på elmarknaden har också påverkat företagen inom elbranschen. Under flera decennier har kritik framförts i tidigare forskning mot den traditionella budgeteringen när det gäller dess lämplighet i osäkra föränderliga miljöer. Kritiken blir åter aktuell då det kan krävas kompletteringar av alternativa styrverktyg för att lyckas navigera verksamheten i osäkra marknadsmiljöer. Även de alternativa styrmedlen har sina utmaningar när det kommer till att framgångsrikt implementera och komplettera den traditionella budgeteringen. Det finns även förespråkare som hävdar att den traditionella budgeteringen helt bör ersättas med mer flexibla och dynamiska styrmedel. Syfte Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur de senaste fem årens ökade osäkerhetsfaktorer har påverkat budgeteringens roll inom verksamhetsstyrningen. Specifikt hur företag som verkar på elmarknaden har anpassat eller kompletterat budgeteringen med flexibla styrverktyg. Metod Vår studie har genomförts med en kvantitativ undersökningsmetod. Datainsamlingen har genomförts med en internetbaserad enkät. Företagen inom elbranschen har valts ut genom ett slumpmässigt urval. Studien har genomförts med en deduktiv ansats. Resultat och slutsats Företagen inom elbranschen har under de senaste fem åren i hög grad påverkats av ökade osäkerhetsfaktorer. Planering av verksamheten har försvårats och behovet av riskanalyser har ökat.Trots detta är den traditionella budgeteringen fortsatt av väsentlig vikt i styrmixen då majoriteten inte har gjort eller planerar att göra förändringar i sitt sätt att arbeta med traditionell budgetering.Övergivning av styrmedlet är inte enväldigt relaterat till dess brister, utan organisatoriska hinderkan vara överordnade vid eventuell implementering av nya styrmedel. Av de mest omtalade alternativa styrmedlen föredras de som kompletterar en av den traditionella budgeteringens främsta svagheter, att den snabbt blir inaktuell. / Introduction Traditional budgeting has long been a reliable and frequently used management control tool. War and inflation have caused a rise in external uncertainties resulting in the market climate changing over the last five years. Changes surrounding the electricity market have also impacted companies within the industry. Over several decades critique has been presented against the traditional budgeting regarding its suitability in uncertain and changing environments. Critique has been rekindled since companies now require alternative tools to be able to navigate their organisations in uncertain market environments. Even the alternative tools have their challenges regarding successful implementation and their ability to complement the traditional budgeting.There are also advocates who argue that more flexible and dynamic tools should replace traditional budgeting altogether. Aim The aim of our study is to investigate how the external uncertainties over the last five years have impacted the role of budgeting within management control. Specifically, how companies who operate in the electricity industry have adjusted or complemented budgeting with flexible tools. Method Our study has been carried out using a quantitative survey method. The data has been collected using an online survey. Companies within the electricity industry have been randomly selected to participate. This study has been completed using a deductive approach. Results and conclusion Companies within the electricity industry have been largely impacted by external uncertainties over the last five years. The planning of organisations has become more difficult and the need for risk analysis has increased. Budgeting has, despite increased difficulties, continued to be of substantial importance regarding control tools since the majority of the companies have not made,or plan to make, any changes in their ways of using traditional budgeting. We have found that abandonment of the traditional budgeting is not strictly related to its shortcomings, but instead the organisational obstacles may be the deciding factor in the possible implementation of new control tools. Amongst the most discussed alternative control tools are the ones that complement the biggest weakness of traditional budgeting, that it quickly becomes outdated, preferred.

Förmågan att kunna anpassa sig efter rådande omständigheter har aldrig varit mer påtagligt än idag. När Coronapandemin lamslog hela världen 2020 var det mycket i det vardagliga livet som förändrades. Det gick inte att gå ut och äta, träffa sina nära och kära eller planera nästa semester på samma sätt som tidigare. Men det va inte bara enskilda individer som drabbades, många företag fick stänga igen och gick i konkurs. Majoriteten av företagen idag använder sig ett traditionellt sätt för att budgetera och planera för framtiden, man gör budgetar för kommande period och förhåller sig sedan till dessa. Detta sätt att planera och budgetera lyfts fram som kostsamt, tidskrävande och att det försvårar möjligheterna att anpassa sig efter ändrade omständigheter. Men på senare tid har ett alternativ planerings- och budgeteringssätt vuxit fram. Beyond Budgeting är ett alternativ till det traditionella sättet och innebär att man avskaffar dessa traditionella budgetar och använder sig istället av rullande prognoser, benchmarking och balanced scorecard för att bara nämna några styrmedel. Förespråkarna för Beyond Budgeting menar att detta nya sätt att planera och budgetera skulle eliminera de negativa delar som de traditionella metoderna för med sig och att det skulle leda till ökad lönsamhet. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur företag på OMXS30 Nasdaq Stockholm som använder Beyond Budgeting och företag som inte använder Beyond Budgeting skiljer sig åt i lönsamhet, genom att undersöka fem nyckeltal. Nyckeltalen som undersöks är vinstmarginal, likviditet, soliditet, kapitalomsättningshastighet och räntabilitet på totalt kapital. I denna studie har en kvantitativ metod tillämpats där sekundärdata i form av årsredovisningar för åren 2017, 2018 och 2019 hämtats för företagen listade på OMXS30 Nasdaq Stockholm. Nyckeltalen vinstmarginal, likviditet, soliditet, kapitalomsättningshastighet och räntabilitet på totalt kapital har sedan valts ut som representativt för lönsamhet. Resultatet för denna studien påvisar att det inte finns någon statistiskt signifikant skillnad i lönsamhet mellan de företag som använder Beyond Budgeting och de företag som inte använder Beyond Budgeting. Studien visar således att det inte finns något samband mellan Beyond Budgeting och lönsamhet. / The ability to adapt to prevailing circumstances has never been more evident than today. When the Corona Pandemic paralyzed the whole world in 2020, much of everyday life changed. It was no longer possible to go out to eat, meet loved ones or plan the next vacation in the same way as before. But it was not just individuals who were affected, many companies had to close and went bankrupt. The majority of companies today use a traditional way of budgeting and planning for the future, they make budgets for the up coming period and then relate to these. This way of planning and budget is often highlighted as costly, time consuming and that it makes it more difficult to adapt to changing circumstances. But recently, an alternative planning and budgeting method has emerged. Beyond Budgeting is an alternative to the traditional way and means that you abolish these traditional budgets and instead use rolling forecasts, benchmarking and balanced scorecard to name just a few instruments. Proponents of Beyond Budgeting believe that this new way of planning and budgeting would eliminate the negative elements that traditional methods bring with them and that it would lead to increased profitability. The purpose of this study is to investigate how companies on OMXS30 Nasdaq Stockholm that use Beyond Budgeting and companies that do not use Beyond Budgeting differ in profitability, by examining five key figures. The key figures examined are profit margin, liquidity, equity / assets ratio, capital turnover rate and return on total capital. In this study, a quantitative method has been applied where secondary data in the form of annual reports for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 have been retrieved for the companies listed on the OMXS30 Nasdaq Stockholm. The key ratios of profit margin, liquidity, equity ratio, capital turnover rate and return on total capital have then been selected as representative of profitability. The results of this study show that there is no statistically significant difference in profitability between the companies that use Beyond Budgeting and the companies that do not use Beyond Budgeting. The study thus shows that there is no connection between Beyond Budgeting and profitability.

Bakgrund och problem: Det har riktats kritik mot den traditionella ekonomistyrningen vilket har gjort att moderna styrmetoder och verktyg växt fram för att komplettera ekonomistyrningen. De faktorer som tvingat fram den moderna styrningen går även att se i musikbranschen. Detta, tillsammans med att ekonomistyrning i musikbranschen generellt sett är outforskat, gör att det blir intressant att undersöka hur skivbolag i musikbranschen använder sig av en traditionell ekonomistyrning eller modern verksamhetsstyrning. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att genom att undersöka två skivbolags ekonomistyrning kartlägga hur ekonomistyrningen karaktäriseras utifrån traditionell ekonomistyrning och modern verksamhetsstyrning. Metod: Metoden som använts vid denna studie är kvalitativ. Vi har genom fallstudier hos två skivbolag undersökt och skapat oss en förståelse av ekonomistyrningen i bolagen med hjälp av semi-strukturerade intervjuer och kompletterande frågor via mail.   Slutsats: Det går att se att skivbolagen övergått delvis till en modern verksamhetsstyrning men att det alltså finns en blandning mellan användandet av traditionella och moderna styrmetoder och verktyg. / Background and problem: Criticism has been raised towards the traditional management control which pushed forward modern management methods and tools to complement management accounting. The factors that pushed out this modern management control are possible to see in the music industry aswell. This, together with the fact that management control in the music industry has a research gap, makes it interesting to examine how record labels in the swedish music industry are using traditional or modern management control. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to through the examination of two record labels create an understanding of how the management control is characterized through traditional or modern management control. Method: The method used in this study is qualitative. We have through a multiple-case study at two record labels examined and created an understanding of the management control in the companies with the help of semi-structured interviews and complementary questions through mail. Conclusion: It is possible to see that the record labels has partly moved to modern management control but also that you can see a mix between the usage of traditional and modern control methods and tools.